The Natural Ingredients and Cosmetics Products Export Strategy will come under review at a two-day conference at the Industrial Development Corporation in Sandton next week (October 15-16).

This as the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) partnership with the Centre for the Promotion of Imports (CBI), with which it developed the strategy, comes to an end. The CBI is an agency of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dti deputy minister, Bulelani Magwanishe, said that the conference would provide a platform for stakeholders to exchange ideas on progress made through the implementation of the strategy.

Discussions will focus on the sustainable supply of natural ingredients, manufacturing, legislation and regulations, and commercialisation.

The export strategy was created to encourage the production of ingredients that comply with international market requirements and to stimulate local value-addition in the production of organic or natural cosmetics products.

“We have been implementing the Natural Ingredients and Cosmetics Products Export Strategy in partnership with our Dutch partners for the past three years,” said Magwanishe. “The strategy was aimed at growing the exports of natural ingredients, including vegetable and essential oils, improving the competitiveness of the industry, and promoting the transformation and inclusiveness of the sector in order to open up economic opportunities to previously disadvantaged individuals and emerging small businesses.”

He said the sector was an attractive one in which to invest as it had strong potential to produce natural products with natural ingredients available in the country, including indigenous species such as aloe, morula and baobab.